Australian Vacation 2009 : Day 1

We arrived at the Coolangatta Airport just before 8am in the morning on Thursday, March 19, 2009. We bought the Freedom Pass for the airport and theme park transfers with unlimited travel on the local bus Surfside Buslines. Then we took the GC Shuttle service direct to our apartments.





















The Seacrest Beachfront Holiday Apartments located at the corner of Higman St and Main Beach Parade. Our 2 bedrooms self-contained apartment is at level 4, fully equipped with cooking and laundry facilities. There were electrical hobs, microwave oven, convection oven, toaster, dishwasher, fridge & freezer, washing machine, dryer, etc.





















We reached our apartment around 10.30am to leave our baggage at the concierge. However, we were told by the lovely old lady who man the counter that we can check-in early, around 12.30pm (supposed to be after 2pm). So we did some adjustment to our itinerary and cancel our plan to go to Chirn Park for the halal meat and lunch at the Sayang Malaysian restaurant there. Instead, we just walk along the Esplanade towards Cavill Avenue and had lunch at Theo's Kebab.

At the Cavill Avenue, we bought the discounted Escape Pass for our theme parks excursion. The pass allowed 2 theme parks entrance in 3 days. We planned to go to Sea World and Movie World. Then, we caught a bus back to our apartment for check-in.





















View from our balcony looking south towards Surfers Paradise.





















View from our balcony facing the Pacific Ocean.





















View from our balcony looking north towards David Evans Reserve.





















The Living Room, TV with Foxtel.





















Resting a while along the Esplanade.

In the afternoon, we went out again to Surfers Paradise. We went to Woolworth at Centro to buy some groceries. Amazingly, we bought food for 5 breakfasts and 5 dinners (full one trolley) only cost us AUD150. That's about 1 breakfast and 1 dinner if we eat at a restaurant. Then we headed back to our apartment to cook dinner and rest.





















Good nite and see you again in Day 2...

Panoramic Views of Australian Vacation 2009

Its been quite some time since my last posting. We were away for 6D5N family vacation in Gold Coast and Brisbane, Australia. Now, I would like to share some of the pics, starting with some panoramic views...









View from our apartment's balcony (Day 1)









Waiting for the final show at Sea World (Day 2)









On Wyndham Canal Cruise around Surfers Paradise (Day 4)










Walking along the beach from Clifford St back to our apartments at some 2km away (Day 4)









Walking along the Brisbane's South Bank Parklands (Day 5)


Coming up next... pics from Day 1

Moving...

Moving to Denai Alam? Not so soon...

I was browsing the net in one afternoon back in November 24, 2006. No specific topic to look for but ended up browsing through some new properties websites.

Then, my search focused on double frontage landed properties. Double frontage means that the house has two main entrance. There is no rear side or backyard. The backyard is actually also a front side. At that time, only 2 developers offered double frontage houses. One in Putrajaya and another one, of course, in Denai Alam by Guthrie Properties (now Sime Darby Property).

On the same day, I went to visit the show house and quickly took the whole family to see it the next day. The day after that, I confirmed my booking and paid the deposit. What a hasty purchase...but we never regret it. We love our new house.

The house was ready in early 2008. We took over the keys on January, 19, 2008. After that, Sime Darby did some repairs on the defects that we complained. The repairs was completed sometime in July 2008. Then we did some renovation, extending the kitchen, plaster ceiling and grille. This renovation was completed in November 25, 2008.

Now, after more than a year of the possession, many family members, friends and neighbours-to-be had asked us in many occasions, "When are you guys moving in?". At those times, we could not answer this simple question. Many factors were in our minds. Kids schooling, Atiz's transportation to work, interior design, furniture, etc. Actually, we are not rushing to move. We are not planning to sell or rent out our penthouse apartment that we currently lived in. So move now or move later, financially it would be the same.

After thinking a bit, Atiz & I have set out target. InsyaAllah, the answer to that question would be by:

December 2010

By then, Helmi will just finish his UPSR exam and Jimi will start schooling at the primary school in 2011. Also, another key factor is that we will be able to undertake Atiz's bank staff renovation loan by mid 2010. We need this to continue the renovation, to do the interior design and to purchase some furniture and electrical equipment. We just can't take the existing furniture at our apartment to our new house because most of the cabinet, wardrobe,etc are built-ins.

By the way, like one of the famous Malay song saying "Kita hanya mampu merancang, hanya Tuhan menentukan..."